News

DURHAM, N.C. -- Cree, Inc. (Nasdaq: CREE), a market leader in LED lighting, announces the industry’s first lighting-class LED component that combines the high light output and small footprint of the XLamp® XM-L LED package with Cree’s unique EasyWhite™ color mixing technology. The new XM-L EasyWhite LEDs reduce the cost and complexity associated with binning and color mixing, as well as using multiple discrete LEDs. This can enable customers to reduce the price and improve the performance of LED solutions for compact directional lighting, such as 20-25 watt halogen MR, PAR and B10-style (candelabra) replacement lamps.

In these applications, previous single LED solutions were not able to achieve enough light output to match the incumbent incandescent products. Traditional multi-LED configurations complicate the overall system design and have the added disadvantage of not emulating the look of a light bulb’s filament. The XM-L EasyWhite LED enables a single LED component to deliver the performance and design simplicity needed for 25 watt replacement lamps.

At just 4 watts of power, XM-L EasyWhite LEDs produce up to 340 lumens at an operating temperature of 85 C in warm white (3000K) in a single component. Like XLamp MT-G LEDs, XM-L EasyWhite LEDs are characterized at 85 C, allowing customers to accurately select XM-L LEDs at a specific color temperature. The XM-L EasyWhite is available with the industry’s tightest LED-to-LED color consistency, replicating the uniformity of incandescent light bulbs.

“XM-L EasyWhite LEDs give customers the best of both worlds: the color consistency of an EasyWhite array in the compact size of a discrete component,” said Mike Watson, Cree, senior director, marketing and product applications, LED Components. “In 2009, Cree was the first LED manufacturer to eliminate binning for LED components with our innovative EasyWhite color mixing technology. XM-L EasyWhite LEDs, along with the recently introduced XLamp MT-G EasyWhite LEDs, accelerate the adoption of LED lighting into applications traditionally addressed by energy wasting halogen sources.”

XM-L EasyWhite LEDs are available in 2-step MacAdams Ellipse color points. They are also available in either a 6V or a high voltage 12V configuration, which enables the use of efficient, small and low-cost drivers. XM-L EasyWhite LEDs have the same low profile dome and 5mm x 5mm footprint as the current XM-L LED family.

XLamp XM-L EasyWhite LEDs are available now in sample and production quantities with standard lead times. XM-L EasyWhite LEDs are available in both standard CRI and high CRI (minimum 85 and 90) versions at multiple color temperatures. To locate a distributor, please visit www.cree.com/buyxlamp.

About Cree
Cree is leading the LED lighting revolution and making energy-wasting traditional lighting technologies obsolete through the use of energy-efficient, environmentally friendly LED lighting. Cree is a market-leading innovator of lighting-class LEDs, LED lighting, and semiconductor solutions for wireless and power applications.

Cree’s product families include LED fixtures and bulbs, blue and green LED chips, high-brightness LEDs, lighting-class power LEDs, power-switching devices and radio-frequency/wireless devices. Cree solutions are driving improvements in applications such as general illumination, backlighting, electronic signs and signals, variable-speed motors, and wireless communications.

For additional product and company information, please refer to www.cree.com. To learn more about the LED Lighting Revolution, please visit www.creeledrevolution.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements involving risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated. Actual results may differ materially due to a number of factors, including the risk that we may be unable to manufacture these products with sufficiently low cost to offer them at competitive prices or with acceptable margins; the risk we may encounter delays or other difficulties in ramping up production of our new products; customer acceptance of the new products; the rapid development of new technology and competing products that may impair demand or render Cree’s products obsolete; and other factors discussed in Cree’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including its report on Form 10-K for the year ended June 27, 2010, and subsequent filings.